IMPACT: International Journal of Research in Applied,

Natural and Social Sciences (IMPACT: IJRANSS)

ISSN(P): 2347-4580; ISSN(E): 2321-8851
Vol. 4, Issue 10, Oct 2016, 1-4
Impact Journals

EFFECT OF AGE OF HOST AND CULTURE OF ALTERNARIA ALTERNATA

ON ALTERNARIA BLIGHT OF FENNEL
SURESH MEENA, R. P. GHASOLIA, JITENDRA SHARMA & MANOJ KUMAR MEENA
Department of Plant Pathology, SKN College of Agriculture,
Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University, Jobner, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

ABSTRACT
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is a seed spice which belongs to the family Apiaceae. Alternaria blight is an
important disease of fennel caused by Alternaria alternata. The present investigations were carried out during Rabi 201314 and 2014-15 at the Agronomy Farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner to find out the effect of age of host and
culture of Alternaria alternata on Alternaria blight of fennel. The maximum disease intensity (82.49 %) was recorded when
plants inoculated at the age of 50 days followed by 70 days (81.11 %) while 10-day-old culture of the pathogen was found
more aggressive in causing higher disease severity (83.81%) as compared to young culture i.e. 6-day-old culture (63.60 %).

KEYWORDS: Important Disease of Fennel Caused by Alternaria Alternata

INTRODUCTION
India is rightly known as the land of spices. It is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices in the
world. Seed spices include all those annuals whose dried seeds are used as spices like fennel, fenugreek, coriander and
cumin. Spices have been considered indispensable in seasoning of food, flavouring of beverages, perfumery, cosmetics and
medicines. These spices are very important in human health and have a crucial role in Indian cuisine. Fennel (Foeniculum
vulgare Mill.) belongs to the family Apiaceae is an annual, stout, aromatic herb of 100-180 cm height having slender,
branched, smooth stem and alternate and decompound leaves. The fennel seeds are used in curing diseases like cholera,
bile disturbances, nervous disorders, constipation, dysentery and diarrhoea and also used for control of diseases attacking
chest, lungs, spleen, kidney and in colic pain. The major fennel growing belt spreads from arid to semi-arid regions
covering large area in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Total area under the crop in India is about 54,000 hectares with production of
70,000 million tonnes (Anonymous, 2014a). In Rajasthan, it occupies an area of 15,160 hectares with an annual production
of 14,280 million tonnes (Anonymous, 2014b). Fennel is attacked by a number of diseases viz., Ramularia blight
(Ramularia foeniculi), powdery mildew (Leveillula taurica), seedling damping off (Alternaria petroselini), root rot
(Fusarium solani), Alternaria blight (Alternaria alternata and Alternaria petroselini). Among these disease Alternaria
blight causes the loss of different magnitudes. More than 50% of the inspected fields of fennel showed Alternaria blight
symptoms with an incidence ranging from 30 to 100% (Infantino et al., 2009). The present study aimed to study the host
age and culture age of Alternaria blight on disease development; such information will be useful in developing resistant
cultivars of fennel to this disease.

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Suresh Meena, R. P. Ghasolia, Jitendra Sharma & Manoj Kumar Meena

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Collection and Isolation of Pathogen
The diseased samples were collected from farmers field and brought to the laboratory for further studies.
Isolations were made from the infected plants showing typical symptoms of Alternaria blight. Small pieces of the leaves
and stems of fennel plant were cut from the diseased portion along with some healthy tissues; surface sterilized for 1-2
minutes in 0.1 per cent mercuric chloride solution followed by three washings with sterilized distilled water. These bits
were transferred aseptically on to 2 per cent Potato Dextrose Agar in Petri-dishes separately. Incubation was done at 25
1o C for 7 days. Sub-cultures from un-contaminated peripheral growth were made on PDA slants. The culture purified
through single spore technique and used for further studies.
Effect of Host Age on Disease Development
To know the response of host plant age on infection by Alternaria alternata, the crop was shown on different
dates in such a way that all the ages of the crop are made available on the date of inoculation. The crop was sown in field
on 28 October, 8 November, 27 November and 17 December to get the desired host age i.e. 110, 90, 70 and 50 days old
and inoculation was made on 5th February on all age groups. The per cent disease intensity was recorded after 15 days of
artificial inoculation. The per cent disease intensity (PDI) was calculated by using following formula (Wheeler, 1969).
Table 1
S. No
1
2
3
4
5
6

Description
No incidence/ Healthy
Symptoms on leaf tip and leaves only
Symptoms on leaves and petiole
Symptoms on leaves, petiole and stem
Symptoms on leaves, petiole stem and inflorescence
Symptoms on leaves, stem, inflorescence including seed

Grade
0
1
2
3
4
5

PDI = Sum of numerical disease rating x 100/No. of plants assessed x maximum disease rating
Effect of Age of Culture on Disease Development
To know the effect of culture age on disease development, suspension of spores of A. alternata was prepared from
culture of different ages viz., 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 days old culture. Fennel plants of same age were inoculated for each
treatment and the per cent disease intensity was recorded after one week of inoculation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Effect of Host Age on Disease Development
In order to know the most vulnerable stage of the host, the fennel plants of different ages (50, 70, 90 and 110 days
old) were inoculated with A. alternata. The results showed (Table 2) that maximum disease intensity (82.49 %) was
recorded when plants inoculated at the age of 50 days followed by 70 days (81.11 %). It was found that disease intensity
with three early sown dates was comparatively less than at the later sowing dates. Sangwan et al. (2002) reported similar
results for infection in radish caused by A. raphani. Parashar and Lodha (2012) concluded that fennel plant had maximum
susceptibility to infection of Ramularia blight at the age of 95-105 days old.
Effect of Age of Culture on Disease Development
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Effect of Age of Host and Culture of Alternaria Alternata on Alternaria Blight of Fennel

Age of culture also plays an important role in onset and development of disease. The plant pathogens are known
to be metabolically more active at younger stage and cause maximum infection. Culture of A. alternata of different ages
was inoculated on fennel plants to determine their aggressiveness in causing the blight disease. Increasing the age of
culture up to 10 days also increased the aggressiveness of the pathogen. Maximum disease intensity (83.81%) was recorded
with 10-day-old culture (Table 3). Cultures ageing beyond 10 days showed decreased aggressiveness. Young culture was
less virulent as evident from the data where minimum mean disease intensity was observed with 6-day-old culture (63.60
%). These finding are supported with the results of earlier workers, working with Alternaria spp. on radish (Sangwan et al,
2002), adusa (Singh, 2005) and senna (Tetrawal and Rai, 2007).
Table 2: Effect of Age of Fennel against A. Alternata under Artificial Inoculation Conditions
Date of Sowing Host Age (Days)
28 Oct.

110

08 Nov.

90

27 Nov.

70

17 Dec.

50

SEm+
CD (p = 0.05)
*Average of five replications

Per Cent Disease Intensity*

2013-14 2014-15 Pooled
76.82
78.12
77.47
(61.22) (62.11) (61.67)
77.55
80.25
78.90
(61.72) (63.61) (62.67)
80.13
82.08
81.11
(63.53) (64.96) (64.24)
81.23
83.74
82.49
(64.33) (66.22) (65.27)
1.92
1.91
1.98
4.85
4.81
4.99

Figures in parentheses are angular transformed values

Table 3: Effect of Age of Culture on Development of Alternaria Blight of Fennel
Age of Culture (Days) Per Cent Disease Intensity *
2013-14 2014-15 Pooled
6
62.65
64.54
63.60
(52.33) (53.45) (52.89)
8
72.25
74.54
73.40
(58.21) (59.70) (58.95)
10
81.33
86.28
83.81
(64.40) (68.26) (66.33)
12
76.12
80.17
78.15
(60.75) (63.56) (62.15)
14
69.45
71.68
70.57
(56.45) (57.85) (57.15)
16
65.62
67.45
66.54
(54.10) (55.21) (54.66)
SEm+
1.24
1.26
1.25
CD (p = 0.05)
3.82
3.87
3.84
*Average of four replications
Figures in parentheses are angular transformed values

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Suresh Meena, R. P. Ghasolia, Jitendra Sharma & Manoj Kumar Meena

REFERENCES
1.

Anonymous, (2013-14a). Area and production of Arecanut and spices Directorate of Arecanut and spices
Development. (Deptt. of Agriculture and Co-operation) Ministry of Agriculture, GOI, Calicut, pp-67.

2.

Anonymous, (2014b). Rajasthan agriculture statistics at a glance. Commissionrate of Agriculture, Rajasthan,

Jaipur. Pp-285.

3.

Infantino, A., Giambattista, G.Di., Pucci, N., Pallottini, L., Poletti, F. and Boccongelli, C. (2009). First report
of Alternaria petroselini on fennel in Italy. New Dis. Repts., 19: 26.

4.

Parashar, A. and Lodha, P. (2012). Screening of (Foeniculum vulgare) fennel varieties Against Powdery mildew
and Ramularia blight and effect of date of sowing on disease incidence. Int. J. Food, Agri. and Veterinary Sci., 2
(1): 142-146.

5.

Sangwan, M.S., Mehta, N., Gandhi, S.K. 2002. Some pathological studies on Alternaria raphani causing leaf and
pod blight of radish. J. Mycol. Pl. Path., 32: 125-126.

6.

Singh, N. (2005). Studies on Alternaria blight of Adusa (Adhatoda vasicanees) with emphasis of epidemiology of
the disease. Ph.D. Thesis Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner, pp- 48.

7.

Tetarwal, M.L. and Rai, P.K. (2007). Effect of epidemiological factors on Alternaria blight of senna (Cassia
augustifolia Vahl.). Annals of Plant Protection Science, 15: 148-150.

8.

Wheeler, B.E.J. (1969). An introduction to plant disease. John Wiley, London, U.K., pp-301.

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